PROJECTS

Transmissible vaccines offer revolutionary opportunities for reducing the threat of pathogen emergence. By self-disseminating through hard to reach wildlife reservoir populations, transmissible vaccines lower pathogen prevalence and reduce the risk of spillover into the human population. Over the past eight years we have developed mathematical and computational tools to guide the design and deployment of these revolutionary new vaccines. These tools are now being used to develop a transmissible vaccine that will curb the risk of Lassa virus spillover by enabling the efficient vaccination of its rodent reservoir. More information on transmissible vaccines can be found here: www.transmissiblevaccines.org.

As climate change and anthropogenic disturbance increasingly alter natural ecosystems, understanding how these changes influence the risk of pathogen spillover and emergence becomes ever more important. With our global collaborators, we are currently developing new methods that predict how the risk of pathogen spillover will change over space and time for Lassa Fever virus, Rift Valley Fever virus, and brucellosis.

Monitoring and medicating wild animals without the need for capture

With collaborators in mechanical engineering, computer science, and wildlife, we are developing devices that harness the power of artificial intelligence to monitor the health of wild animal populations and deliver precision medication without the need for capture.  These devices are now being tested for use as a tool for monitoring the health of threatened northern Idaho ground squirrels and competing Columbian ground squirrels.